three
refrain;

"I don't get why you're staying here," said Suzaku haughtily.

"Because," Lelouch told him irritably, "I'm your hostage."

"No way! We Japanese are above that!"

"No, you aren't. You're an imperialist nation that needs to protect its natural resources."

"You know what," said ten-year-old Suzaku. "Screw you! I hate your guts!"

"And I detest your intestines!"

"Stop being such a fancypants!"

"You should stop being such a pighead then!"

Suzaku punched Lelouch in the face; and they weren't quite friends yet.

(refrain)

It took a few weeks of terse exchanges and sulky demeanours before a flag of truce was raised.

"… Lelouch."

"What?"

"I heard what happened to your sister."

"Oh."

"I'm…" Suzaku struggled with his words. "… Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I didn't know."

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me."

"What was it like having a sister?"

"Now you're just being insensitive."

"Well, so-rry!"

"Hmph."

There was a pause.

"She was… little. My sister," Lelouch said finally. "She was very little."

"I wish I had siblings."

"I don't like all my siblings."

"But at least you had them."

"Why'd you want them…?"

Suzaku wrinkled his nose. "They'd be better company than you, at least."

(refrain)

"I'll show you my secret base," Suzaku said to Lelouch.

"I bet it's smelly."

"You're smelly."

"Your base is smelly."

"So are you."

"This conversation is going nowhere," said Lelouch.

Suzaku showed Lelouch around his secret base.

"No one knows about this place," he enthused.

"Hence why it's a secret base."

"Stop making fun of me."

"If you don't like me, why'd you take me here?"

"Because I don't have any brothers or sisters to take."

"What about your cousin?"

"Kaguya doesn't count."

Lelouch didn't quite follow Suzaku's line of reasoning, but then, very little of what the young Japanese boy said made sense to him anyway.

"How about," said Suzaku, "we be brothers?"

"Ew," said Lelouch.

Suzaku punched him.

"You're an idiot," he said.

"No, I'm not," Lelouch replied tartly. "I'm not your brother, so therefore I'm not an idiot."

"Not real brothers, dimwit. Soul siblings!"

Lelouch stared at him as if he was faintly mad.

"You don't even like me."

Suzaku blushed hotly. "Who says I don't?"

"You did. When we first met."

"Yeah, well…" Suzaku scratched his cheek, scowling. "I rethought what I said. Because, uh…" His cheeks reddened. "I thought it was brave of you to be like this even after what happened to your mother and sister, and I'm just a kid and nothing like that's ever happened to me, so…"

"Run-on sentences," Lelouch said. "I hate them."

"I hate you."

"I just made you contradict yourself again," Lelouch said proudly.

Suzaku scowled; and for the first time since his sister's death, Lelouch mustered a smile.


"Maybe now's not a good time," Suzaku said sheepishly. The casino was still in an uproar. Lelouch wondered how he could even have momentarily have forgotten what a cacophony the general discord caused. He was certainly unable to ignore it for as long as he remained in the vicinity.

Later, Lelouch discovered that what had happened was that Prince Clovis had made an appearance at the baccarat table and that there had been an assassination attempt on him. It had failed, of course; the royal prince was too well-protected to be disposed of so easily. This did not quite explain the gunshots Lelouch had heard in the east end of the casino but it did explain the panic. Lelouch had not caught sight of Clovis – the casino was a big place, after all – but he did wonder what would have happened if Clovis had been killed.

He would have gotten replaced by one his siblings, that was all. Then life would have gone on, Lelouch reminded himself.

But for now, Lelouch remained with Suzaku, his heart still thumping frantically from the earlier adrenaline. He wondered briefly if Shirley had heard what had happened yet. Then he wondered if Kallen had been caught; she'd been rather inconspicuous as a bunny girl but she did have something to do with the entire mess. It was hard for Lelouch to investigate anything because as a civilian, he had no access to any information whatsoever. All he was actually capable of doing was tossing his head around at random to try and discern any observations from among the chaos. But there was nothing to take note of now because his senses were overloaded. Invariably, it was in the quieter moments that one learned the most. Lelouch shook his head ruefully at the thought; he was no different from the hundred other patrons who were gazing about themselves in confusion. The security probably wanted him out of the casino altogether. Lelouch did not mind because he wanted to talk to Suzaku. There was more of value that he could learn from him.

Outside, it seemed as if there a lull had settled over the proceedings. The weather was still awful and it dampened any sort of urgency in the situation. But when Lelouch glanced behind him at the exit, others were leaving the casino in droves. Ahead on the roads, the traffic was caught in a jam. Lelouch decided that in this case, more haste meant less speed: he could take his time getting home.

He turned to Suzaku. Suzaku turned to him.

"What were you doing at the casino?" they asked in unison.

Suzaku blinked. Then he laughed, revealing a boyish grin and a row of strong, healthy white teeth. "We're in synch!"

"Not like before," Lelouch replied, smiling now too. "Remember when we first met?"

Suzaku remembered. Lelouch watched him chuckle and could not help but marvel on what a strange twist of fate that had brought about their reunion. Suzaku had grown too. He had transformed from a somewhat stocky boy to a lithe and sinewy young man. It even occurred to Lelouch that Suzaku had somehow become handsome. And yet all the features that had been so distinctly Suzaku were still there, just as Lelouch remembered them: the same mess of curly brown hair, the same smooth, slightly tanned skin, the same earnest green eyes. No wonder Lelouch had recognised him in a heartbeat.

"I'm a patron," Lelouch told Suzaku. "I play cards."

"If it's you, you must be pretty good at it," Suzaku replied. "I'm a soldier in the military."

"A soldier?" Lelouch repeated, taken aback.

"Yeah." Suzaku ran a hand through his curly brown hair sheepishly. "I'm meant to be helping out right now with the security, actually. I'll see you later, Lelouch?"

Lelouch felt as if he'd been slapped on the face with a brick. This was strange because it would have actually made less sense if Suzaku had not changed in ten years. It explained the grey Britannian military uniform, at least. But still – proud, stubborn patriotic Suzaku an Honorary Britannian? It really wasn't an ordinary day at all, Lelouch reflected.

"Here," he said abruptly. He found a piece of paper in his pocket and hastily scrawled his address on it. "Come when you have time."

"It really is good to see you again, Lelouch."

There was no doubt in Lelouch's mind that Suzaku was telling the truth. He was far too honest a person for that. Occasionally, he lied out of well-intentioned kindness, but his face was just too clear for deception.

Suzaku took the paper.

"Thank you," he said. "And bye!"

When Suzaku left, there was nothing for Lelouch to do. The rain had cleared but the wind remained. It buffeted Lelouch on the spot and reminded him, not so subtly, how powerless he was against the elements.

Then Lelouch went home to Shirley.


They lived on the Lamperouge estate, which actually belonged to the Ashfords. Shirley had initially been beyond impressed when she discovered that Lelouch lived in a mansion, but since moving in to live with him, she had realised that none of Lelouch's wealth really belonged to him at all. It was about as legitimate a source of money to her as Lelouch's earnings from the casino.

Today, however, money was the least of Shirley's concerns.

"Are you all right, Lulu?" she asked him anxiously. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

Lelouch had bruised his elbow against the card table but was otherwise unharmed. He had a bigger concern in mind.

"Maybe," said Shirley thoughtfully, "you shouldn't go to the casino if it's so dangerous."

It was laughable, really, how she latched onto any excuse to convince him out of gambling. Almost endearing, since she was always indirect, never pushy.

The underlying feelings, however, were undeniably irritating.

"It was an assassination attempt on Clovis," Lelouch said, adopting a reasoning, agreeable tone. "The fact that it had happened at a casino is a moot point. My arrival and Clovis's arrival were two independent events.

"Besides," he continued, thinking of Suzaku. "The security was highly competent. I was actually safer there than I might have been elsewhere had the same incident taken place."

"Oh, I guess you're right, Lulu," his wife replied, for the moment completely swayed. His logic had that effect on people. "But still, promise me you won't do anything dangerous."

So they worked out a compromise: Lelouch would not return to the casino until the incident had blown over (Lelouch hadn't planned to anyway). In the meantime, he could play poker over the Internet or something of that sort. Lelouch preferred the atmosphere of a live card table, but the Internet would have to do for now.

They had just worked all of this out when the doorbell rang. Suzaku, Lelouch realised, and sprang eagerly to his feet.

"Hi, Lelouch," said Suzaku when Lelouch opened the door for him. He was dressed casually in jeans and a blue jacket and, most fascinatingly, he was carrying a bouquet of flowers.

Lelouch couldn't help it. He laughed. "What's with the flowers?" he asked.

"I thought I'd bring a gift," said Suzaku, reddening.

"I understand that," said Lelouch, continuing to chuckle. "But flowers – really?"

Suzaku thought about that. "They were a bad move, weren't they?"

"They were," said Lelouch agreeably. "But don't worry about it. I'm sure Shirley would like them. Shirley!"

Dutifully, his wife appeared from the living room.

"Flowers," Lelouch said, and held the bouquet out for her. "They're for you."

"Oh." Shirley blinked. "Thank you!" She noticed Suzaku at the doorway. "Is that your friend, Lulu?"

She was hesitant. Suzaku was an Eleven. While Shirley was an amiable girl, she had been brought up in a culture that was eternally suspicious of the Elevens.

Suzaku noticed, and ever so slightly, his face fell.

"He's my friend," Lelouch said firmly. For a moment, he was tempted to put his arm around Suzaku's shoulder, but then he remember he just wasn't a touchy feely person, and besides, he and Suzaku had only just met each other again. "He'll be staying for dinner, won't you, Suzaku?"

"Only if that's all right," Suzaku interjected meekly.

Shirley looked from Lelouch to Suzaku. After a moment of consideration, her suspicion melted away into kindness. "Any friend of my husband's is a friend of mine," she declared. "I'm Shirley. Pleased to meet you!"

Lelouch watched the two of them shake hands and felt relieved that just for this moment, a Britannian and a Japanese person could get along. It would only work for a small selection of people, but at least it was a pleasant enough diversion from all the brewing hostility.

At length, Shirley departed for the kitchen to prepare dinner, and Lelouch and Suzaku retired to the drawing room. Lelouch was pleased to note that his maid Sayoko had recently vacuumed the room and left it in a pristine condition.

"You have a nice house," Suzaku remarked cheerfully.

"Of course," Lelouch responded with a smile. "You know who I am. But here," he added quickly, "you should call me Lelouch Lamperouge."

Suzaku nodded. "Does your wife know? Speaking of which, she's very nice, you know."

Lelouch shook his head uneasily. "I'd rather not burden her with unnecessary details."

"I see." Suzaku paused. Then he smiled. "I didn't expect to meet you again, Lelouch."

"Same here."

It could have ended there. Neither of them could have penetrated deeper. But Lelouch turned to Suzaku then, and there were some things, he realised abruptly, that needed to be asked.

"Why did you become a soldier, Suzaku?"

He asked, and so he heard the response.

"I thought I could change the system from within."

"I see," said Lelouch, smiling pleasantly enough. "I see."


Suzaku visited a few times after that and Lelouch entertained him on those occasions when he had time off his duties. For the most part, however, life at the Lamperouge household slipped back into the same old routine, and Lelouch was almost disquieted by that.

He was home all day; that much was different. Shirley left home early in the morning to go to college and that left Lelouch to his own devices, for the most part. He spent his days on the computer, alternating between Internet Poker and looking up the news. The latter was actually far more interesting than the former.

He discovered that there had been one fatality as a result of the casino incident. It was the man Lelouch had seen shot that day. The name of the deceased was Diethard Ried and he had been a Britannian reporter. Upon further research, Lelouch discovered that there were rumours floating around the Internet that Diethard been involved in a drug ring. Lelouch thought he had an inkling of what it was. He was a consummate gambler, and so he was convinced that he could reliably bet his house on it.

"Refrain," he said to Suzaku the next time his old childhood friend came to visit. "What do you think of it?"

Suzaku gazed at him soberly, even as he smiled. His righteous passion had been ignited. "It's a terrible thing," he said strongly. "It takes advantage of the Japanese. But I think I can understand why people would use such a drug."

They had conversations like this, sometimes for hours on end. While Lelouch never agreed entirely with what Suzaku said, it was interesting to hear his point of view on things. It helped him discover things about his friend he thought he had lost ten years ago.

"I mean," Suzaku continued, and Lelouch listened. "When you grow up, the one thing you want the most is to go back to your childhood and I think that's what Refrain does. It takes you back to your innocent days."

In other words, Lelouch thought, it was an effective way to cash in on someone's longing for nostalgia. He could understand that, he supposed, but he could not contemplate losing his grip on his reality. If there was one thing Lelouch had genuine control over, it was his own intelligence. He could not fathom relinquishing it for the sake of indulgence.

Suzaku looked at him. "Why do you ask about Refrain?" he asked curiously.

Lelouch explained what he had learned about Diethard. Suzaku listened.

"I don't think anyone deserves to die," he said finally. "Not even him." He added quickly, "But I hate Refrain."

Suzaku, Lelouch decided, had without a doubt mellowed immensely since the days of their youth. At least they didn't fight and bicker with each other anymore, which Lelouch supposed was a good thing.

The next day, without telling anyone, Lelouch went back to the casino. His intellectual curiosity had been piqued and he required an outlet. That was the rationale he maintained within his head, although in truth he had far shallower reasons. Shirley would be disappointed, he knew, but of course, she had no way of knowing about it.

In any case, Lelouch did maintain a small hope that, far from winning or losing, he would see…

"It's you," he said, and broke into a smirk.

Kallen Kouzuki was placing a cocktail beside a patron's hand on the blackjack table. When she heard Lelouch's voice behind her, she jolted upright and very almost upset the glass over the table.

"Wh-What?" She turned around and stared at Lelouch, stunned, as if he had grown another head.

"Still wearing that outfit, I see," Lelouch remarked casually. He sat down at the table and fished into the pockets of his suit for his wallet.

He did not have to look at the bunny girl to know that she was spluttering and flailing and was overall rather red in the face.

"It's been a while," he said. "Perhaps we should talk."

She was beginning to compose herself now. She gazed at him, measuring him in that sort of way men did when they appraised and calculated each other's worth. It was somehow refreshing to be on the receiving end of that gaze from a woman.

"Perhaps we should," she said finally.

Lelouch played blackjack for the next half hour. He tried to play safely so that he could break even, but the man next to him was a bad player and Lelouch found he was losing money. Kallen watched him with silent yet ill-concealed frustration. Eventually, Lelouch stood up. He had finished anticipating every possible angle his conversation with the Japanese rebel could possibly take.

"Shall we?" he said.

Kallen glanced around herself. Her eyes hardened.

"Sure," she responded.

They walked to a relatively secluded foyer of the casino. The hubbub from the game room was quieter here and there were several empty cushioned seats dotting the room. Lelouch sat down next to a pot plant and motioned for Kallen to sit as well. She didn't. She stood and paced around the on the carpet and cast harried glances around the foyer. A young couple was seated on a pair of seats on the opposite end of the room. They were holding hands and gazing intently at each other. Kallen turned back to Lelouch, satisfied that there were no eavesdroppers but still ill at ease nonetheless.

"Nice double bluff," Lelouch said suddenly. "You've learned well from observing the plays."

Kallen frowned. Standard card player talk, she knew, but with a hidden meaning.

Lelouch was certain that the girl was clever enough to work it out. There was no way an assassination attempt on Clovis would work in a casino, but it did serve to mask the true target of the shootout: Diethard Ried. The only question left to ask was:

"What's your father's surname?"

"Stadtfeld," Kallen spat.

"An honorable surname," Lelouch said languidly. The girl had first introduced herself to him as Kallen Kouzuki – it was either her mother's name or a name she had invented for herself. Either way, she had Britannian blood in her. "I imagine all the Elevens working here were sacked."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I have no interest in feeble acts of rebellion," Lelouch answered smoothly. "If you're to fight, you may as well aim for the head. But I suppose you can't," he continued, and the expression of open disgust on Kallen's face merely deepened. "Your army was completely obliterated ten years ago. You have no Kyoshiroh Tohdoh to lead your liberation front. No man of miracles. Only small pockets of strength like you."

Kallen seemed as if she was physically struggling to prevent herself lunging at Lelouch and punching him on the nose. Lelouch laughed.

"I didn't call you weak," he pointed out. "But Japan as a whole is weak."

Kallen paused at that. "You said Japan, not Area Eleven."

Lelouch had discussed that matter with Suzaku. Suzaku did not seem to mind being referred to as a number, although it seemed condescending to Lelouch. The two of them were equal, at least in the sense that they were friends.

But as for Japan, Lelouch thought with a shake of his head. The once proud island nation was reduced to shambles now. The military had not simply crumbled; the very heart of the populace was gone. Whoever had devised Refrain had to be the most successful man who had ever lived. While very little coverage of it was portrayed on the media (nothing anti-Britannian ever was), its impact on Area Eleven could not be overstated. As a restraining tool, it far surpassed force. It even improved Britannia's economy.

"I suppose your first task is to save Japan from Refrain," Lelouch said.

"Of course!" Kallen replied vehemently, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Refrain is awful! I hate it!"

Suzaku had said the same thing, Lelouch recalled. And he had said it with less anger and more of a sad understanding in his eyes. But the weight and pain their nation had brought upon their shoulders was probably equal for both of them.

How weak, Lelouch could not help but think. That these people who had for so long prided themselves on their virtues would become a nation of drug addicts. Never mind saving them from Britannia, they needed to be saved from themselves too. Much as he despised Britannian nobility, Lelouch was no Japanese sympathiser, even if a Japanese man was his best friend.

"I don't believe in taking sides," he said to Kallen.

"Why talk politics at all, then?" she pressed him.

"Names will change," Lelouch replied, "but the world won't."

He stood up from his seat.

"Wait!" Kallen cried. She grabbed his arm and twisted him back to face her. "I can't let you leave."

It was then Lelouch felt a jolt of trepidation touch his heart. He smiled. There was a knife pressed against his throat.